Along for the Ride
by Hawki
Summary: Oneshot: What was harder, Ryder wondered? Surviving in Andromeda, or keeping Drack in line?


**Along for the Ride**

Kadara was a shithole. Even by the standards of the Andromeda galaxy.

"How many goodly creatures are there here?" Sara murmured as she and her companions descended from the Tempest. "How beauteous mankind is. Oh brave new world, that has such people in it."

Drack looked at her. "You say something?"

"Shakespeare," she murmured. The krogan kept looking at her. "Y'know, Shakespeare? _The Tempest_? We're on another world, and the locals want us dead?" He still looked at her. "Irony?"

"Shakespeare," Vetra murmured. "Didn't Harrison Kit do one of his plays with an all-elcor cast?"

"Could have, never saw it," Sara said. She was still looking at Drack. "I thought you said you were cultured. That you were spending time on the _Hyperion_ educating yourself."

Drack laughed, as only a krogan could. He lumbered over, as only a krogan could, and patted Sara on the head, as only a krogan could. A pat made in the knowledge that that meaty hand could crush her skull. "I like you kid." And with that, he lumbered off, out to see the sights and sounds of Kadara. All of them disreputable, all of them dangerous – basically krogan Nirvana. She shot a look at Vetra. The turian shot her a look back that said "he's a krogan, what do you expect?"

Sara didn't have an answer to that, silent or otherwise. Instead, she said "alright, stay with the ship."

"I'm rear-guard?"

"Once SAM pinpoints Sloane, we can move in. Until then…" She shrugged. "Well, I'm a pathfinder. Time to make friends with the locals."

"The locals are mainly your own species. And considering they were kicked off the Nexus, I don't think they're looking for friends."

"But they don't know me like you do," Sara said. "How else do you think I became pathfinder apart from my shining personality?"

"You can shoot stuff quite well."

 _Oh, shut up._ She walked off, heading after Drack. There was going to be trouble by the end of the day, but she didn't need a krogan starting it any earlier than it had to. It didn't take long to find him, even through the crowds – krogan stuck out in the Milky Way. They stuck out in this galaxy even more.

"Drack." He looked at her, as she made her way through the outlaws. To them, she was just another human who'd gone to strike out on her own – she wasn't afraid of any suspicions just yet. "I didn't give you orders to perform recon."

"No. You didn't." He continued lumbering off, cutting through the crowds like a wave over rocks. Sara felt like a fish as she struggled to keep after him.

"Well, can you please just stop for a moment?"

"No."

 _Son of a…_ She quickened her pace, bumping into several people, and getting dirty…well, dirtier, looks, as a result. But she got in front of Drack all the same. "Hey!"

He looked down at her. "What?"

"I gave you an order."

"No. You didn't."

"Excuse me?"

The krogan laughed, and Sara reached for her pistol. She was really beginning to regret bringing Drack here. Oh, sure, he was good in a fight against the kett, but that seemed to be all he was good at. Apparently the krogan chain of command was good for only strangling your foes.

"You want to lead, kid?" he asked. "Then lead."

"I don't get you."

"You want me to follow you? Then give orders. Don't ask." He gave her a shove.

"Don't do that."

"Is that an order?" He gave her a shove again.

"Yes, it's a bloody order."

Drax remained silent for another moment. Then laughed. Again. She was getting sick of him laughing. At least PeeBee made jokes that were actually funny. And Liam…well, she was thinking of Liam a bit more than she wanted to, which gave Drack more time to lumber past her and-

"Hey!"

He turned round. Sara opened her mouth, but no words came out. She was going to say "stop, and that's an order," but it didn't sound right in her head. And insubordinate or not, krogan or otherwise, Drack was right about one thing – orders. She was a pathfinder, not a soldier. Oh, sure, martial skills were part of the job description, but she'd come to Andromeda in the expectation that her father would still be giving orders, that she could rely on Scott, and that the Andromeda Initiative would have a functioning chain of command. Now, that chain of command was as frayed as the worlds of this whole bloody galaxy, and she was struggling to find a way to mend them.

"Why are you here, Drack?" she asked.

The question caught him off-guard. "What?"

"I don't get it," she said. "There's a whole galaxy of opportunities for you, and you stick with us. Humans, asari, even turians…" She smirked, as the indirect mention of Vetra caused his forehead to crease. "Back home, your entire species is facing extinction due to the genophage. And yet you're here."

He frowned – "think I care about what those boot-lickers think of me?"

"No, not really. But you've got to realize that you're only going to be part of the only generation of krogan in this galaxy."

"Think I care about that either?"

"No," she responded truthfully. She paused, before saying, "but that doesn't answer my question?"

"Fine," he said. "I'm guess I'm here to go along with the ride." He chuckled. "Is that a play on words? Ride? Ryder? Huh?" He gave her a playful shove. Which hurt.

"Yeah, sure," Sara murmured. "Very clever."

"See? The Nexus isn't wasted on me. And who knows, you grow a backbone, you might not be wasted on me either."

"I still command you."

"Sure." He walked off again.

"Drack!"

"Pathfinder Ryder, I have located Sloane Kelly," came SAM's voice.

"Yeah, great," she said. "Drack, get back here!"

He stopped. This time, at least. But she couldn't help but wonder…

…how long would 'the ride' last?

* * *

 _A/N_

 _I read on a forum post that the presence of krogan in_ Andromeda _is a plothole, that given that any krogan which leave would still be under the effect of the genophage, colonizing Andromeda is fruitless for them, as there's no way they could establish a viable population. I don't disagree with the latter, but I don't think their presence in of itself is a plothole. A lot of krogan are mercenaries, so I could imagine that some would go just for the heck of it. So, drabbled this up. And of course I'm giving complete shots in the dark as to how certain characters will be characterized, but it isn't the first time I've done this (e.g. the pre-_ Mass Effect 2 _oneshots I did)._


End file.
